What do you get when you combine your love of retro bikes and love of a modern classic car? An Abarth Factory steel roadie! PEZ fan Daniel from California is the proud owner of this ‘Abarth Factory’ bike which looks nothing like it did when he bought it just under a year ago…

What made you choose this bike?
I loved this particular mid 80’s model Japanese Tange framed road bike. It seems every bike name back in the day rebadged this exact bike into their own. Panasonic, Sintesi, Myata, and Centurion with their Iron Man Series.

Daniel’s $100 bike today

What modifications/additions have you done?
Polished crankset, Upgraded to Shimano 600 series 7sp hub, cassette, & shifters. I painted the frame to match my 2013 Grigio Abarth and came pretty close to the actual color of my car. A friend made my Abarth & Scorpion decals. I wanted to make this bike look like a factory production model and I believe I came close to a design that Carlo Abarth himself would have approved. See if you can count all the tiny Scorpion decals I peppered all over the bike…

What components are you running?
Shimano 600 Series with an upgraded 7sp system from a later model.

Shimano 600 SIS – Classic stuff

How many miles/kilometers do you do a year?
Approximately 3,500 miles annually.

Favorite riding area?
Climbing in the Santa Monica Mountains in and around Ventura & LA County.

Color coded Tektro RL340 Brake Levers look the part

Favorite riding experience on your bike?
Most people think this is a restored factory Abarth Road Bike from the mid 80’s. When I tell them it’s my own making, they love it even more!

Future upgrades?
None planned other than a nice set of Continental Gator Skins when these tires wear out.

Last words?
This was a very fun project that I love riding on the flats and reminiscing with my buddies about the old days riding steel with standard cranks and too few gears…

Thanks to Daniel for sharing his machine with us and proving that a Readers’ Rig doesn’t have to be a $10,000 super machine. If you have a bike that’s special for you and something a little out of the ordinary, send a photo and brief description to chris@pezcyclingnews.com and your $100 machine or $10,000 superbike could be featured in an upcoming Readers’ Rigs.